The Church Of Michael The Archangel

Photos and description

The Church of Michael the Archangel, located in the old town of Nicosia, also called "tripiotis Church," which means "the one who blew the hole". Her name got "inherited" from one of the monasteries in Anatolia. According to legend, the adversaries of Christianity want to destroy it, flooding the land where he was. To this end, they diverted two rivers that flowed near the Holy place. However, thanks to the prayers and intercession of the Archangel Michael, the rock near the monastery cracked and all the water has gone through the formed hole without hurting the building. Since then, the name of Tripiotis was assigned to the monastery and the Archangel Michael.

In Nicosia the Church of the Archangel Michael was erected, as is, in place of the old Gothic Church on the initiative of Archbishop Germanos II, at the expense of one local priest named James, as well as donations of parishioners. Despite the fact that the island at that time was under Turkish rule, the building was constructed in record time. As the inscription on the wall above the South entrance door, the first stone of the Church was laid may 3, 1695, and the construction was completed on 25th of November of the same year.

The Church is a large building under a dome with a tall bell tower, constructed from a smooth porous stone in the Byzantine style, but with a noticeable influence of the French architectural traditions. On the outside its facade is atypical for these types of structures bas-relief depicting lions, sea monsters and mermaids.

The temple is famous for its gold-plated iconostasis, decorated with a thin carving, which was made after more than a hundred years after the construction of the temple - only in 1812. The most valuable icon is a small icon of the Madonna and child of the XV century, located in the right part of the iconostasis. Overall, inside tripiotis Church is particularly lush and expensive decoration.